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YouTube video by Evan Liu (for backgrounds skip to 12:00)
Multiple backgrounds and/or Stamps (v1.A1+)
E2B v1.A1 and later versions of E2B will automatically use one of the following grub4dos .g4b batch files, or .bmp or .jpg files (if they exist) just before the corresponding menu is displayed. The file name is the same as the folder name...
- \_ISO\MAINMENU.g4b or .bmp or .jpg - this must be present if you want the Main Menu to load a different wallpaper when returning back from a sub-menu
- \_ISO\SVR2K8R2.g4b or .bmp or .jpg (bugfix - use v1.B0+)
- \_ISO\SVR2012.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\VISTA.g4b or .bmp or .jpg (bugfix - use v1.B0+)
- \_ISO\WIN7.g4b or .bmp or .jpg (bugfix - use v1.B0+)
- \_ISO\WIN8.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\WIN10.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\SVR2016.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\SVR2019.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\WINAIO.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\WINDOWS.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\AUTO.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\BACKUP.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\DOS.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\LINUX.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\UTILITIES.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\UTILITIES_MEMTEST.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\WIN.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
- \_ISO\WINPE.g4b or .bmp or .jpg
.g4b Example: if \_ISO\DOS.jpg or DOS.bmp exists, it will be used as the wallpaper for the DOS menu - OR (for example) you can create a \_ISO\DOS.g4b file to load new wallpaper and then stamp a menu heading at the top of a new background wallpaper:
!BAT
# display new wallpaper
splashimage /_ISO/MyDOS.bmp
# stamp heading on top of wallpaper (--offset=transparent=0x80 or 0=opaque,x,y file)
splashimage --offset=0x80=300=0 /_ISO/HeadingDOS.bmp
# remove currently playing animation (if any)
splashimage --animated=0
The .g4b file must begin with !BAT on the first line. 'color' commands and other commands can also be added to the .g4b file (see below).
You can add a new animation by adding code to the .g4b file - see 'Multiple animation sequences' here.
If the .g4b file does not exist, E2B will then look for a background image file with a .jpg or .bmp file extension, so if you just want a different wallpaper for each menu, simply ensure a .jpg or .bmp file is present in the \_ISO folder of the same name as the submenu folder (e.g. \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS.jpg, \_ISO\MAINMENU.jpg, etc.) and it will be used - no .g4b file is required.
If you create a new SubMenu folder (e.g. \_ISO\NEW) using SUB_MENU_Maker.cmd then one of the files \_ISO\NEW.g4b, \_ISO\NEW.bmp or \_ISO\NEW.jpg (in that order) will be automatically used, e.g. if NEW.g4b exists then NEW.bmp and NEW.jpg will be ignored.
Note: The maximum length for a grub4dos variable name is only 8 characters, variable names longer than 9 characters will be ignored (e.g. set FREDFREDAB=1 will do nothing, set FREDFREDA=1 will make a new variable FREDFRED (not FREDFREDA) with a value of 1).
--- o O o ---
The following methods are no longer necessary if you have E2B v1.A1 or later, it is left here for reference only...
Alternative Methods (pre. v1.A1)
You can change the default background by adding a \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp.gz or MyBackground.bmp file or MyBackground.jpg or by modifying the \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg file. However, you can also have different background wallpapers for each menu (and change other menu settings like the menu text colours). You can configure E2B so that each sub-menu displays a different background wallpaper bitmap. See video in my blog post here and also this YouTube video by Liu Evan.
Note: Wallpaper .bmp files can be compressed using 7Zip to gzip format, or, for even better compression, you can use the LZMA utility (see \_ISO\docs\E2B Utilities\LZMA\ReadMe_LZMA.txt for details on how to use drag-and-drop to compress any file).
E2B (i.e. grub4dos) will automatically detect if any .bmp or text file is compressed and how it has been compressed. The smaller the file, the faster it will load. E2B v1.72+ can also use JPEG encoded graphics files for backgrounds (save using Microsoft Paint for correct format).
Tip: You can remove E2B's Menu headings by setting the HEADPOS variable in MyE2B.cfg so that it is outside the display area, e.g. set HEADPOS=4700. Then place a different menu heading at the top of each background wallpaper image in any font that you like. Use set HBTM=4700 to remove the Footer help text. E2B v1.A0 and later versions can also centre-align the menu entries automatically.
Set the Main menu background (for use with multiple wallpapers)
Define different backgrounds for each 'normal' sub-menu
Note: E2B v1.A1 and later versions automatically look for a \_ISO\xxxx.g4b, or a \_ISO\xxxx.bmp or a \_ISO\xxxx.jpg file of the same name as the sub-menu folder - see the end of this page for details.
1. Create a new folder at \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS\!!CONFIG and place your background bitmap in the new folder.
2. Create a \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu file with your settings- e.g. (assumes the bitmap file is in the same folder as the .mnu file)
splashimage /_ISO/submenu.bmp.gz
Then copy the !!CONFIG folder to all sub-menu folders (except WINDOWS and MAINMENU). This would mean that any change you make to the sub-menu CONFIG.mnu file would need to be copied to all other sub-menus however. So instead, your CONFIG.mnu could call a grub4dos batch file - e.g.
Note: If you specify a different background in \_ISO\MAINMENU\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu from the default \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp file (or the background file used in MyE2B.cfg), E2B will first load the \_ISO\MyBackground.bmp file (or default E2B file) and just before the Main menu is displayed, it will then load the background file from \_ISO\MAINMENU\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu .
If you add 'call Fn.70 3' to the MyE2B.cfg file, then the user will see the default bitmap first during file enumeration and then the bitmap from !!CONFIG.mnu will be loaded when the Main menu is displayed. See video in my blog post here.
Example:
# Show background wallpaper during file enumeration
\_ISO\MAINMENU\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu (main menu image)
splashimage /_ISO/MainMenu.bmp.gz
Alternative Method
1. Create a file \_ISO\SwitchBackground.g4b, containing the text...
!BAT
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/ANTIVIRUS" set BG=lamp.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/BACKUP" set BG=moon.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/DOS" set BG=lakesunset.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/LINUX" set BG=girl1.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/MAINMENU" set BG=girl2.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/UTILITIES" set BG=profile800x600.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/UTILITIES_MEMTEST" set BG=girl3.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/WIN" set BG=girl4.jpg
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/WINPE" set BG=smilegreen.jpg
splashimage /_ISO/%BG%
set BG=
You should change the name of the jpg/bmp files as required.
You can add color commands also if you wish, e.g.
if "%MFOLDER%"=="/_ISO/WINPE" set BG=smilegreen.jpg && color normal=0xFF0000 && color highlight=0xFFFFFF
Tip: You can name the picture files as DOS.jpg, ANTIVIRUS.jpg, BACKUP.bmp, etc.
2. Create a new file at \_ISO\MAINMENU\!!CONFIG\SetBackground.mnu with the following contents:
call /_ISO/SwitchBackground.g4b
3. Copy the !!CONFIG folder (complete with the same SetBackground.mnu file) to each of the 8 other folders, e.g. \_ISO\ANTIVIRUS\!!CONFIG\SetBackground.mnu, \_ISO\BACKUP\!!CONFIG\SetBackground.mnu, etc.).
Do not copy the folder to \_ISO\AUTO or \_ISO\WINDOWS\xxxx folders because it will not be used.
4. Ensure the jpg or bmp files are in the \_ISO folder.
You can use a different folder to store the background files if you change the splashimage line in SwitchBackground.g4b to have the correct path.
Note: This method can also be used for the AUTO and WINDOWS\xxxx menus. Just place the text:
!BAT
call /_ISO/SwitchBackground.g4b
into the \_ISO\AUTO.g4b and \_ISO\WINMENU.g4b, etc. files and modify the /_ISO/SwitchBackground.g4b batch file accordingly.
Background for AUTO (Direct) Menu (E2B v1.70+)
The file \_ISO\AUTO.bmp will be used as the background for the AUTO menu, if it is present. Note that you can compress the file using gzip or LZMA (best) or use a JPEG file, but the file name must remain as 'AUTO.bmp'.
- \_ISO\AUTO.bmp
The bitmap must be the same size as the Main menu bitmap (e.g. 800x600).
If you want to set different colours for the menu text, then you must create a \_ISO\AUTO.g4b batch file - this will be used instead of the AUTO.bmp file - e.g.
\_ISO\AUTO.g4b
Note that you could (in theory) also load a different sized bitmap by setting the graphics mode - e.g.
Backgrounds for Windows Install menus (E2B v1.70+)
If any of the following files exist, they will be loaded as a background wallpaper for the appropriate Windows Install menu. If the file does not exist, then the background will be unchanged from the previous menu.
- \_ISO\SVR2K8R2.bmp
- \_ISO\SVR2012.bmp
- \_ISO\VISTA.bmp
- \_ISO\WIN7.bmp
- \_ISO\WIN8.bmp
- \_ISO\WIN10.bmp
- \_ISO\SVR2016.bmp
- \_ISO\WINMENU.bmp (background for the Windows Install Menu - if any of the other Windows .bmp are used, this should also exist)
The bitmap must be the same xy size as the Main menu bitmap. You can compress .bmp files using gzip or LZMA, or use JPEG encoding (v1.72+), but the name+extension must not be changed (it must be .bmp). E2B v1.A1+ also recognises .jpg files (e.g. \_ISO\VISTA.jpg).
If you only use \_ISO\WINMENU.bmp to change the Windows Install menu background, then all the Windows Install sub-menus will also use this background.
If you want to also change the colours (or other settings), then use a .g4b file (e.g. \_ISO\WINMENU.g4b) instead of a .bmp file - see AUTO section above for details of what to put in each file.
Adding 'Stamps'
\_ISO\ANTIVIRUS\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu
\_ISO\MAINMENU\!!CONFIG\CONFIG.mnu
500 is the x-coordinate, 0 is y-coordinate in the above example.
Example using Stamped headings
If you have a different wallpaper for each menu (or just the same wallpaper file), then you can embed the menu heading into the wallpaper and suppress the default E2B text headings. This means you can have a stylish menu heading or even different icons for menu headings.
The heading in this menu is a 'stamp'.
I added a 24-colour .bmp HeadingUtils.bmp file and a .mnu file:
\_ISO\UTILITIES\!!UtilHeading.mnu
# load wallpaper
splashimage /_ISO/e2b/grub/background.bmp.gz
# stamp heading onto wallpaper (0x80 = transparent background)
splashimage --offset=0x80=300=0 /_ISO/HeadingUtils.bmp
If you add a similar file to each menu folder (including the MAINMENU folder), you can change the wallpaper at any time and there is no need to edit the background for each menu.
e.g. place the wallpaper and Heading bitmaps in a separate folder (\_ISO\wallpaper).
The 'transparent' colour value is taken from the bottom-left pixel of the 'stamp'. Any pixels of that same RGB value will not be written onto the wallpaper.
The .mnu file should begin with !! because it must be added to the dynamic menu first before any other menu entries or payload files are enumerated and added to the menu.
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